Chairman: Mrs Heather V O Woodward
Chequers
Stone Cross Road
Wadhurst
East Sussex TN5 6LR
Tel: 01892 783212
E-mail: handew@waitrose.com
SEPTEMBER 2020
Dear Friends,
We have had an actual real Committee Meeting! In the garden and properly socially distanced. It was lovely to see six of us together and to have the advantage of one being away but having supplied his thoughts and comments. We therefore were able to discuss everything fully and so now I can contact you again to bring you up-to-date.
I hope you have been able to enjoy the glorious weather (albeit perhaps in the shade), and that all has been well with you. The committee seems to have spent a great deal of time clearing out cupboards and drawers, gardening, reading and craft-working, writing up their diaries and journals, walking regularly, digging out recipes and generally pottering about. The work of the History Society has continued and I am delighted to tell you that the archiving of the documents section of the Bocking Collection has been completed with the final item being BC/AM/1402. [That’s one update that will not have to be mentioned at every meeting!] Many enquiries have come in from around the globe which means that the website is still exciting interest and keeps researchers fully occupied and often fascinated. We really do learn something new almost every day. It has also been good to receive numerous items as a result of other people’s clearing-out – usually these are Wadhurst-related and they are filling in many gaps in our knowledge as well as clarifying one or two anomalies. Thank you to everyone for their feedback, interest and involvement.
FORWARD PLANNING: The QUIZ seemed to go down well and so, in response to requests for another, we propose to distribute one at the end of January 2021, to be returned by 1st March. This avoids a clash with another organisation which has run a Christmas quiz for many years. The winners of our first quiz were: Jeremy Oldershaw, Mike Berks and Janet McFarlan. No one had every question correct but it was a close run thing at the top. I am going to try and append the answers to this letter. We are hoping to produce a ‘normal’ NEWSLETTER for November 2020 and that we hope will include your memories, comments etc about LIFE DURING THE CORONA VIRUS epidemic. Please can you let me have your epidemic thoughts as soon as possible and my thanks to those who have already sent me some. Please can you send them to me by Friday 2nd October at the very latest. The Newsletter will also have all the usual items for the Annual General Meeting including the financial statement and the Chairman’s report, two reviews of the only two talks given in 2020 and, if there is space, some articles written by members during the epidemic. The RECIPE BOOK will, we hope, be published for Easter. We had planned for Christmas but there are going to be no outlets for us to sell it at then, as far as we can judge, and so prudence has prevailed. A number of people have promised to send me recipes – please will you send me them now so that we can be sure that we have enough for a well-balanced diet – sorry – book! The TALKS FOR 2021 AND 2022 are almost all in place but the decision about whether the first session (until say Easter or July) will actually happen will be taken at the beginning of November, depending on Government advice and the viability/ availability of the Hall. By far the majority of respondents to my query about afternoon meetings were for staying with evening meetings only so that is what we will do.
We are inevitably particularly aware of the financial implications of this epidemic upon the Society. We have to continue paying the considerable rent for the Centre but have none of the usual fund-raising input: no talks means no income from teas/wine etc, Christmas cards, notelets, calendars, Cock and Hen and publications and we can have no extra events like jumble sales and the planned evening with Cardinal Wolsey (aka Tony Harris). Subscriptions and donations are our only source of income for the moment so we do hope you will continue to support us when they are due towards the end of the year.
Now it’s over to you: Please will you
- Send or give me your recipes immediately.
- Send or give me your articles/extracts of thoughts about Covid 19 immediately.
- Send me any questions about Wadhurst you need answering – for inclusion in the October/November Newsletter – immediately. And any answers you may have to previously published questions.
- Give us any Wadhurst-related documents or artefacts that you don’t want to house any more. They could provide very useful information for future generations. They will be looked after, catalogued and made accessible to interested people at the Centre.
Thank you. And herewith the Quiz Answers:-